Reblog | From the Sea to the Sky in British Columbia

I wrote part of this blog 2 years ago after Sean and I had completed our anniversary escape to Canada. I was excited to be back home after being overseas, and this trip was so much fun. We were able to explore the city of Vancouver, spent a few nights in a secluded cabin near Mount Currie, and then had an adventure at Whistler. Sean really made this trip special for us, so I wanted to bring it back up. With the whole social distancing going on due to COVID-19, it’s been hard on everyone to stay put.

I know we’re all itching to get back out and exploring, but for the sake of the entire world, we should do the best thing possible for the entire world, and stay home to protect each other until we know what’s really going on. I’m a nurse returning to work soon, so thankfully I haven’t had to deal with the hardships just yet, but I have a lot of friends who are on the front lines, and the marks on their faces don’t lie. Stay home, stay safe. And without further ado, a look from the Sea to the Sky in British Columbia.

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Highway 99 in Canada is known as the Sea to Sky Highway. We took this from Vancouver to Whistler, and I kid you not, the view was absolutely breathtaking. It seemed like after each turn there was a waterfall or a viewing point to stop at.

  We didn't have much time on our hands to make it to every stop, so we chose two different points on the highway. Our first stop was Britannia Beach, which is located next to a mining museum. If time permitted, I would've asked my husband to go inside because it looked very interesting. In the 1800s, they discovered copper here, which led to the development of the Britannia Mining Company.  We parked our car in front of the museum store and then walked across the highway to an old railroad track that leads to the beach. My husband was able to fly our Mavic over the lake to capture the view, vlog to be completed soon. Just being by the water was a nice feeling, even if it wasn't for swimming.

Our second stop was about a 10-minute drive north, to Shannon Falls. Shannon Falls is a 335-meter waterfall, ranking it the 3rd largest waterfall in Squamish, BC. This area is perfect for picnicking on your way up to Whistler because it has a large picnic area with tables and a restroom. The waterfall is very well maintained. There is a walking trail that goes up to the falls.

  On our way back down from Whistler, we stopped at Nairn Falls. This was when we were driving from Mount Currie to Whistler, so it's a bit more north. This was a 1.5-kilometer hike on a hiking trail alongside the Green River. To view the falls, there is a fenced platform that has a combination of rock and wood, which is extremely slippery, so approach it with caution. There's an area where you can view the river, and then a higher area to view the falls. Michael was able to fly the drone here, but we did it with caution because the wind was very strong where the falls were coming down.

  The drive to Whistler was about two hours. The weather was on our side that day because it was clear blue skies and minimum wind chill. I would recommend this drive, and I hope to go back and stop at more of the locations along it.

A Foodies Fantasy in Seoul, Korea

We lead our travel journeys with our stomachs, and then our hearts

  Living in Seoul, knowing that there is over 80,000 restaurants here per the World Cities Culture Forum in 2016, you can only imagine how much time we spend looking for the best ones to eat at.  In our little piece of Seoul, we have managed to find six restaurants that we visit frequently.  I wish I knew where all of the photos were saved so I could show you how good the food looked! But you’ll just have to trust me when I say that I highly recommend these restaurants!

Stacked (Gangnam)

  This place was in such a prime location if you knew where the Yongsan base was in Seoul.  Before Yongsan closed down, this restaurant was located right outside of the walk-in gate by Itaewon. Right before we left Korea, we found out it moved to Gangnam. I was pretty sad because Sean and I ate here and we made it our “go-to” when we wouldn’t know where to eat.  We usually spend roughly about $50 here when we go, and we would get four sets of dumplings, two orders of fried rice, and drinks.  It’s such a steal for good dumplings!

Ichiryu. Photo from ViaMichelin.Co.Uk

Ichiryu (Itaewon)

  44 Jandari-ro 3an-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea | We found this restaurant by luck.  We were exploring the back streets of Itaewon where there is less traffic, and we noticed the Michelin recommended sign on the window.  When we entered, it was just a small bar.  They serve dinner menus here, and it’s three choices of Sapporo style lamb.  We ordered a French rack and lamb chops.  They prepared it for us, and it was absolutely delicious.  It’s a little on the pricier side for the amount of food you get, so we’d recommend saving for the occasion.

BBQ Chicken (Yongsan)

  If you didn’t already know, Koreans are well known for their BBQ and their fried chicken.  BBQ Chicken was a staple food in our household.  We ordered BBQ chicken almost every weekend when Sean came home.  There’s just something about those honey glazed wings and that undeniable crispy freshness the chicken had.  What blew our minds was the chicken would still be crispy (after heating in the oven) the next day! Witchcraft we tell you!  Absolutely mind blowing. 5 out of 5 for fried chicken, and I didn’t even eat fried chicken like that before Korea.

MenyaSandaime (Itaewon)

  24 Hongik-ro 5an-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea | We are forever on the search for the best ramen we can find.  Unfortunately, Sean hasn’t been able to taste ramen in Japan yet, but Menya Sandaime has definitely come very close to hitting home.  This ramen shop is quaint, but the line will go passed the neighboring stores.  The ramen noodles are made in house, the broth is super rich and flavorful. We’d recommend the black garlic ramen since it has such a bold flavor.

Egg Drop (Various locations)

  The versatility of eggs is always inspiring to me.  This small café specializes in egg sandwiches.  The menu isn’t very large, but the items are packed with flavor.  We tried three sandwiches in one visit and they did not disappoint.  We recommend this for a quick on-the-go brunch stop as their containers do well to prevent you from getting sandwich droppings on yourself.  If you’re feeling adventurous, try their delicious egg vanilla latte! It’s egg-citingly delicious, no yoke! 

Maple Tree (Itaewon)

116-1, Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul | It would be a shame to leave Korea without finding some amazing Korean BBQ.  We hadn’t realized how small the restaurant was until we went there trying to get a seat.  Our first recommendation would be to call ahead and try and reserve a space.  Once we were in though, the service was extremely fast.  The menu itself is fairly large, and the quality of meat reflects in the price for sure.  It did not seem like a very large portion of food, but with the unlimited sides, I was surprisingly satisfied for the rest of the night.  The aesthetic of the restaurant was very nice as well, seeing as most of it was covered in empty soju bottles!

Hibarin. Photo from imperialpalaceboutiquehotel.com

Hibarin (Itaewon)

  737-25 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea | This is another Japanese restaurant located in Itaewon. We were lucky to find this place after visiting, Vinyl & Plastic, a record store and cafe. This restaurant is located under IP Boutique hotel. It had a very modern aesthetic to it so dining there is very Insta-worthy. The katsu that we ordered was so good! It’s really something you can’t go wrong ordering.

Our first desert adventure: Las Cruces, New Mexico

  It’s safe to say that we are having a pretty hard time adjusting to desert living.  Sean and I have both grown up in places with so many things to do (besides Fort Irwin, and I am grateful to have never been there).  So moving here has kind of put a quick halt to our travel bug.  When we arrived in the middle of August, it was scorching hot.  I was nauseated all of the time, so going out in the sun’s heat was not appealing to us at all.  Now that the weather has cooled down to temperatures we’re fond of, we decided to take a weekend and explore what this area has to offer.

  We made a few mistakes along the way.  Well, one in particular, and that was staying in an Airbnb 45 minutes away from our house.  Sure, it cut some of our drive times in half, but it wasn’t worth it.  The host of the Airbnb was a kind, old man, but the house was not what we were expecting.  I won’t go into too much detail, but an Airbnb in this area is not going to happen in our future anytime soon.

  Anyways ~ we spent most of the time outside of the house so it wasn’t too bad.  On our first day, we went to see what Slot Canyon was all about.  It’s about 1-1.5 miles long, and it’s actually pretty cool.  When we got there, we saw that there was a no trespassing sign, but everything online said that it wasn’t private property and that people still went.  So imagine my pregnant butt climbing a fence (no, it was not that hard, and yes my husband helped me).  The trail veers to the left even though there is a trailhead off to the right.  I don’t know where it would take you if you go off to the right, but it’s probably to the back end of the canyon.  It was fun watching the dogs climb through the canyon.  Sean was highly impressed with Oki’s parkour skills as he jumped from wall to wall.  Okami did her job in pulling me up the big steps.  Maybe if you’re lucky, Sean will find time to piece together our drone video.

  Next, we ventured off to White Sands.  It makes me laugh because Sean pretty much drives to White Sands every day for work, but never has actually seen the park.  It was about an hour away from Slot Canyon.  At the entrance, there’s a gift shop and a small informational area teaching you about White Sands.  You can purchase a round sled for $20, and return it for $5.  If you have a sled, just bring it.  Their sleds don’t work well in the sand.

  To get to the hills, you have to drive.  The entrance fee is $10 per person, but it’s free if you’re active duty military (heyyy!)  The area was surprisingly large.  There are places for you to set up camp, start BBQs, an amphitheater, and of course, the sledding hills.  The dogs were ecstatic when they got into the sand.  I’ve never seen them so happy.  Like I said, the sled didn’t work very well even after being waxed.  The hills were pretty short.  If you wanted a steep hill, it was the hill leading into the parking lot – not fun.  But it was a great place to get some good photos of the dogs, and I’m sure we’ll be back again with the family to take more pictures once our baby boy arrives.

  Overall, the day was pretty fun-filled with short adventures.  Nothing like what the PNW has to offer, or in our recent case, South Korea or Germany.  I guess we’re just going to have to learn to love it for the next few years, or spend the money going to places a little more… interesting.

Thankful for: Photographer Edition

  Sean and I have been together for almost 6 years now, and we’ve had so many adventures all across the globe.  We’ve spent so much time apart in the 6 years we’ve been together, that pictures used to happen over SKYPE.  Our photos used to be screenshots of each other during a video call.  We would always take the time and effort to hire someone to take our photos during the times we were together.  So, I’m taking the time to really appreciate the ladies who have helped us keep the memories throughout the years during our biggest milestones.

Our Elopement by Carolina Segre – Copenhagen, Denmark

  I found Carolina from an extensive search through Instagram and Google.  It was my first time looking for a foreign photographer, and I was terrified I wouldn’t be successful due to the language barrier.  When I reached out to her, she was extremely easy to connect with.  Carolina’s work on Instagram captivated me, because you could see the realness it all of her photos.  When we met her on our wedding day, she was so easy going.  Everyone was so comfortable during the photo sessions, and all of the photos she captured were beautiful.  She really took her time to get intimate shots of our small ceremony, and we greatly appreciate it.  I think my favorite part of the shoot was when she pulled out a giant jumpsuit to get down & dirty into bushes to capture shots.  I was so surprised with how dedicated she was with her work.  Carolina also travels outside of Copenhagen to do photography, so you know that we’re going to be reaching out to her again when we’re back in Europe!

Location of Shoot: Ceremony at Rådhuspladsen (City Hall), Botanisk Have (Botanical Gardens) of Copenhagen

Our 1st Anniversary by Jas & Jules – Tacoma, Washington

  It was through one of my sorority sisters that I actually found Jas.  I saw her work of my soror and her boyfriend, and I immediately wanted to do another photoshoot with Sean.  When I reached out to her, I was talking to her from Germany, but the communication was still so easy!  Jules was actually also in Germany at the time, and I hadn’t found that out until the day of our shoot.  These two ladies are bada$s women, who take their work so seriously.  Just from following them on social media, you can tell that they pour every ounce of their souls into making sure they’re doing the best for their customers.  The one thing I really appreciated about Jas during out shoot was her patience with us when we asked for photos with our fur baby Okami.  Okami is not the easiest to photograph because she will literally turn away from any type of camera lens, but Jas was able to get us some amazing photos with Okami!

Location of Shoot: Fort Steilacoom Park, WA

Our Baby’s Announcement by Northern Lily Photography – Seoul, South Korea

  Michelle is SO understanding.  I have to start off with that because we had to reschedule due to so many weather warnings in South Korea, that when we finally met up, I was surprised.  This lady also puts her heart into her work, and you can tell because it seems like she’s pumping out all sorts of photos all hours of the day on her social media.  It makes you wonder how she has so much time to shoot and edit, but she does it!  Really, our day was just so special with her because we were all so high on life due to the fact that we found out we were pregnant, and this was going to be our baby’s first announcement to the world. 

Location of Shoot: Mulhyanggi Arboretum, Osan, South Korea

Our Maternity Shoot by Memories by Christine Mendoza – El Paso, Texas

  Our most recent photo shoot was with Christine and it was for our maternity shoot.  I connected with Christine through a Facebook group because I saw she had questions about living in Germany.  It wasn’t too long until I realized that she was the mastermind behind the beautiful photos I was seeing all over the El Paso Facebook page on business days.  Christine is a very down-to-earth, easy-going photographer.  She brought so many dresses for me to wear for the shoot which was nice because I didn’t have to go through the trouble of finding something to wear.  All of the work that she puts out looks amazing, and I’m sad that she’ll be gone when our baby arrives, but we’re so excited for her family to experience Europe!

Thank you to all the ladies that have given Sean and I beautiful memories to look back on during our time together.  These photos are going to be something that we cherish forever.

Location of Shoot: Red Sands, El Paso, Texas

Trip To Busan | Our escape from the hustle and bustle of Seoul

Back in May, Sean and I decided to take a spontaneous weekend trip to Busan.  Busan is a city located on the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula.  It’s been popularly known for the zombie film Train to Busan, which I still have not seen.  We were going to take the train, but we like traveling with our car since it gives us a little more freedom with where we want to visit.  It’s about a 5-6 hour drive from Seoul, which isn’t bad considering the traffic getting out of Seoul.

  We stayed at Lotte hotel, which wasn’t bad because it was near so much stuff in the city already.  Outside of the hotel was two streets lined with street food carts.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to try any because by the time we went out, everything was so busy.  We ended up eating Korean BBQ at a place near the hotel, and it was still so delicious.

  Honestly, it’s pretty hard to remember what we actually did in Busan since it’s been so long.  Our first stop was Taejongdae Cliffs. We didn’t spend too much time there because it was extremely hot, and I was no in the attire to climb any type of cliff. We took a walk along the pier, and then moved on with our tour of the city. Most of our morning we spent baking at Haeundae Beach.  It was a little strange for us at first because everyone that was there was covered head to toe.  We were a little hesitant to strip down to our bathing suits because we would be the only ones, but we did it anyways.  Asians are quite the opposite of Americans when it comes to tanning.  They admire porcelain white skin because it shows that you’ve got enough money not to work in the field all day (where you would get dark).  We’re obviously very Americanized Asians, haha.

  After trying to withstand the Korean heat, we packed up our things and went to Gamcheon Culture Village.  It’s a colorful village that sits on top of a hill where everyone goes to see the colorful houses of Busan that overlook the sea.  It was relatively crowded at the time that we went, but not so much where you were constantly bumping into people.  There are a few hidden alleyways that you can go up to get better views from the rooftops of the houses. Then for dinner, we decided to check out their massive fish market! We had absolutely no idea what we were looking for, so we chose a few fish and a live octopus and had it cooked for us. It took me a VERY long time to eat the octopus because it was still squirming on the plate! The crowd around us at the fish market was fun to watch. They ate everything. They ordered so much food, and they had A LOT of soju going around. It’s funny because it’s always groups of old people that go hiking, and then by mid-afternoon, they’re all drunk.

  We were extremely lucky that it didn’t rain on us during the one full day we had there.  Driving there and driving back to Seoul, we were traveling in downpour rain.  It definitely is a trip worth making if you have a free weekend in Korea and want to escape the hustle and bustle of Seoul!